European research community calls for swift UK association to Horizon Europe

04 November 2021

Europe's research and innovation community representing over 1,000 universities, 56 academies of science and 33 rectors’ associations, as well as thousands of Europe’s most distinguished researchers, today (4 November 2021) called for the European Commission and President Ursula von der Leyen to finalise the United Kingdom’s association to Horizon Europe immediately.

UK association to Horizon is a win-win for the UK and Europe and the Russell Group welcomes the strong support from the European research community. Signatories include the League of European Research Universities (LERU), The Guild of European Research-Intensive Universities (The Guild), UDICE French Research Universities (UDICE) and the German U15.

Swift association will maximise the ability of UK universities and businesses to lead projects, generate high-impact outputs and realise a range of economic, health, environmental and social benefits for the UK and its citizens.

The Russell Group was pleased to see that the UK Government in its Spending Review set aside a specific budget line for full association to European programmes including Horizon Europe to 2024-25. The financial commitment sends a strong signal of the Government’s intention to associate.

We hope to see association finalised as soon as possible and look forward to working with our European partners on a range of research projects over the course of Horizon Europe.

The European research community letter to the European Commission can be found here. You can read the Russell Group’s briefing on the benefits of UK association to Horizon Europe here.